3 Things Eating Too Much Cauliflower Can Do to Your Body
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3 Things Eating Too Much Cauliflower Can Do to Your Body

3 Things Eating Too Much Cauliflower Can Do to Your Body
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Updated on August 6, 2025
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If you've been paying close attention to food trends these days, you've likely noticed that cauliflower is everywhere — from pizza crust to mashed potato substitutes. It’s a type of cruciferous vegetable, from the same family that includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, radishes, and turnips, among others.

Cauliflower, with its nutty and slightly sweet taste, has become a trendy vegetable in recent years, served in restaurants and dinner tables in a variety of ways. Like almost any food, cauliflower consumed in excess can have side effects, some potentially serious and some merely annoying.

Cauliflower, which is high in vitamin C and vitamin K, and low in calories and sugar, has hidden risks for some people.

 Two to three cups of cauliflower per week will provide the health benefits without the risks.

Iodine Absorption and Cauliflower

Experts have long advised that cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower can interfere with iodine absorption. They contain goitrogens, compounds that interfere with the thyroid’s ability to use this essential element.

That's important because iodine plays an essential role in thyroid functioning and low iodine levels can lead to hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid function.

Hypothyroidism — characterized by decreased metabolism, cold sensitivity, dry hair and skin, difficulty thinking and weight gain — could theoretically occur if you eat a diet consisting almost entirely of cruciferous vegetables.

Additionally, sometimes, when you have low iodine levels, the thyroid enlarges so it can trap more iodine, a condition known as a goiter.

But eating foods that contain goitrogens, including cauliflower, is unlikely to affect thyroid function unless you’re deficient in iodine.

 Most of the U.S. population gets adequate iodine intake, so eating moderate amounts of cauliflower is unlikely to be a concern for most people.

Gastrointestinal Distress and Gas

Cauliflower has another potential side effect if you eat too much of it — gas.

 While not as serious as potential thyroid problems, intestinal gas can cause social embarrassment. The bloating and abdominal discomfort that accompany gas can also make you miserable.
Cruciferous vegetables contain fiber, which doesn't break down easily for digestion, and sulfur-based compounds, which can ferment in your gut.

 Intestinal bacteria ferments fiber in the intestine, producing hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide gas, along with the sulfur-containing gases that give flatulence its unpleasant odor.

 An enzyme called alpha galactosidase is required to break down raffinose, the sugar that can cause this gastric discomfort.

 The human body doesn’t produce this enzyme, but it's available in the form of over-the-counter anti-gas pills.

Drug Interaction With Vitamin K

If you take the blood thinning medication warfarin (Coumadin), too much cauliflower may interfere with the effectiveness of the medication.

 Cauliflower contains a moderate amount of vitamin K, with about 16.6 micrograms per cup of chopped, raw pieces, and about 17.2 micrograms if boiled.

Vitamin K helps your blood clot, but warfarin decreases your blood's ability to clot.

 Eating large amounts of foods with vitamin K makes warfarin less effective.
If you already eat a lot of cauliflower, tell your doctor before starting on warfarin. Suddenly decreasing your intake of vitamin K could also change the way coumadin works in your body.

 Keeping your vitamin K intake stable is essential when you take coumadin.

The Takeaway

  • Cauliflower is everywhere — in pizza crust, subbing for mashed potatoes — and its high nutrient content backs up its popularity. But eating too much can have unintended effects.
  • Excessive cauliflower intake can interfere with iodine absorption, potentially impacting thyroid function if you have an iodine deficiency.
  • Cauliflower can cause gas and bloating due to its fiber and sulfur-based compounds that ferment in the gut.
  • If you take the blood thinner warfarin, consuming large amounts of cauliflower can interfere with the medication's effectiveness due to its vitamin K content. Keeping vitamin K intake stable is essential.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Dutter E. Superfoods: Why you should eat cruciferous vegetables. Mayo Clinic. October 21, 2024.
  2. 7 Health Benefits of Cauliflower. Post Oak ER.
  3. Cauliflower, Raw. U. S. Department of Agriculture. April 1, 2019.
  4. Wolf J. 8 Healthy Foods That Can Be Risky in Excess. University Hospitals. June 25, 2024.
  5. Iodine. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. November 5, 2024.
  6. Hypothyroidism. Cleveland Clinic. September 24, 2024.
  7. A Healthy Hypothyroidism Diet: What To Eat, Avoid and Why. Cleveland Clinic. August 21, 2024.
  8. Simple Goiter. Penn Medicine.
  9. 5 Health Benefits of Cauliflower. Cleveland Clinic. July 15, 2025.
  10. Mutuyemungu E et al. Intestinal gas production by the gut microbiota: A review. Journal of Functional Foods. January 2023.
  11. The Best and Worst Foods To Eat When You Have IBS. Lompoc Valley Medical Center. April 20, 2022.
  12. Restivo J. Digestive enzymes: How supplements like Lactaid and Beano can help with digestion. Harvard Health Publishing. November 13, 2024.
  13. Don’t Eat These Foods If You Take Blood Thinners or Statins. Guthrie. May 9, 2024.
  14. Cauliflower, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt. U. S. Department of Agriculture. April 1, 2019.
  15. Vitamin K. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. March 22, 2021.
  16. Warfarin diet: What foods should I avoid? Mayo Clinic. June 4, 2024.
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Kayli Anderson, RDN

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Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Kayli Anderson has over a decade of experience in nutrition, culinary education, and lifestyle medicine. She believes that eating well should be simple, pleasurable, and sustainable. Anderson has worked with clients from all walks of life, but she currently specializes in nutrition therapy and lifestyle medicine for women. She’s the founder of PlantBasedMavens.com, a hub for women to get evidence-based, practical, and woman-centered guidance on nutrition and cooking, hormone health, fertility, pregnancy, movement, mental well-being, nontoxic living, and more.

Anderson is board-certified in lifestyle medicine and serves as lead faculty of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) "Food as Medicine" course. She is past chair of the ACLM's registered dietitian member interest group, secretary of the women's health member interest group, and nutrition faculty for many of ACLM's other course offerings. She is the coauthor of the Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide and works with many of the leading organizations in nutrition and lifestyle medicine to develop nutrition content, recipes, and educational programs.

Anderson frequently speaks on the topics of women’s health and plant-based nutrition and has coauthored two lifestyle medicine textbooks, including the first one on women’s health, Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan.

She received a master's degree in nutrition and physical performance and is certified as an exercise physiologist and intuitive eating counselor. She's a student of herbal medicine and women's integrative and functional medicine. She lives with her husband in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where you’ll find her out on a trail or in her garden.

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A registered nurse with more than 25 years of experience in oncology, labor/delivery, neonatal intensive care, infertility and ophthalmology, Sharon Perkins has also coauthored and edited numerous health books for the Wiley "Dummies" series. Perkins also has extensive experience working in home health with medically fragile pediatric patients.

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